Disability Pride Month: Letter from Our Sister in South Africa Thato Mphuthi

July is Disability Pride Month, a celebration bearing a name that might seem contradictory to a lot of folks. Pairing the words 'Disability' and 'Pride' might confuse some, but that only reflects ableist prejudice, which is discrimination in favor of able-bodied people. In South Africa alone, people with disabilities make up 7.5% of the population, and about 1% globally. These may seem like small figures, but we are real people with real experiences, and we exist in all communities.

I am Thato Mphuthi: a 26-year-old young woman with a physical disability, also known as having a 'mobility impairment', and I am the next UN Women Executive Director. Does that shock you, to see someone in an international leadership position with a disability? For some, envisioning a person with a disability in this kind of executive role is unfeasible.

More often than not, people tend to look at disabilities as a sign of fragility, weakness, and sensitivity. They assume people with disabilities always need assistance. Think of a time you have encountered a person with a disability, in a taxi, at a bus stop, mall, or office down the road. Was your first reaction to say, “I will push your wheelchair.”, “Let me open the door for you.”? All of this is coming from a place of wanting to be helpful, right?

Sadly, those with disabilities are assumed to be incapable of the smallest of tasks, which is both condescending and infantilizing.

What is more helpful than offering to open every door for us is opening the door of your mind to a new way of viewing us. What we genuinely want is to be viewed without shame or pity. What offers us the most help is seeing us as the incredible individuals we are.

Many people with disabilities show competency in their fields of expertise despite the stigma placed on us by ableism. People like Stephen Hawking, arguably one of the best theoretical physicists and cosmologists in history; Eddie Ndopu, a South African Activist using the power of imagination to reinvent activism; and Greta Thunberg, who is known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change—all change agents with disabilities.

I advocate for a society where people with disabilities' input into conversations that are not necessarily “disabled-based” is valued. Participation in conversations around disabilities by those who live with them is crucial, but their insight beyond such topics should be valued. And their voice as a disabled person does make them a monolithic advocate for all who are disabled. We cannot ignore the beauties, talents, and triumphs that lie outside of one’s disability.

As a society, we need to move to a position of inclusivity that will see qualified and skilled people with disabilities sitting in boardrooms of big corporations and governmental institutions for positions other than those that fulfill the requirements of the Employment Equity Act. It should become second nature to see those with disabilities in the same rarified spaces of success as we expect to see "able-bodied" people in.

We are not who people ASSUME WE ARE.

The assumption that because we are the biggest minority population in the world, people with disabilities cannot be valuable contributors to society or the economy. It is the responsibility of thought leaders to eliminate this prejudice and support initiatives that hold us as people who matter and add value to humanity. Another assumption is that we lack ambition or the desire to work. We still widely experience workplace discrimination like being refused a job or denied a final interview. Executives and employers need to see a person as a potential asset who has value beyond their disability, not reduce us to a liability out of bias.

Official policies say that we have the right to honest self-representation, but how many politicians, corporate leaders, or government officials do you know who openly discuss having a disability? A policy is merely a suggestion if there is no course of action that follows. There are definitive ways that you as an individual can change the cultural perception of those living with disabilities. Here are actions you can take today:

• Support disabled advocates on social media

• Encourage others to learn from disabled advocates

• Read books about the disabled experience by disabled authors

• Learn all you can about disability history

• Dismantle the idea that disability is shameful!
  

Though I live with a disability every day, I am also empowered and motivated by it to improve the world, not just for those living with disabilities, but for all people. It is this strong desire to create a more just and equal society that inspires me to do the work necessary to achieve, and also to urge you to do the same. With Love and Respect, Thato Mphuthi